Int'l Community Fails to Establish Equal Relations With Kurds

Kurdish attempts to establish fair and equality-based relations with other nations are not receiving due understanding from the international community, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party of Turkey.

MOSCOW, December 24 (Sputnik) — The international community fails to grant the necessary understanding to attempts by Kurds to establish equal relations with other nations, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party of Turkey (HDP) told Sputnik Turkey Wednesday.

"Kurdish attempts to establish fair and equality-based relations with other nations, [relations that would be] far from being nationalist or racist, are not receiving due understanding from the international community," Selahattin Demirtas said.

Demirtas said he was pleased that Kurdish proposals regarding the settlement of "a number of Middle East issues," had been met with interest in Moscow and that Russia had expressed a will to broaden communication. "This is especially important today because it should be taken into account that unfortunately, Kurdish diplomatic initiatives and meetings so far have not been held on such a high level."

Demirtas noted that "Kurds do not necessarily have positions that are similar to those of the countries they live in." He added that Kurds understand the importance of the development of Russian-Turkish relations and believe that the development of Russian-Kurdish relations does not contradict this aim.

Kurds are a Middle Eastern ethnic group with the population of some 30-35 million according to the rough estimates by the CIA, living mainly in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The Kurdish population is largely Sunni Muslim with their own language and traditions.